American designers, who worked in and made major contributions to modern architecture and furniture. They also worked in the fields of industrial and graphic design, fine art and film.
Charles Eames (1907 – 1978) and his wife Ray Eames (1912 – 1988) were two of the most influential designers of the twentieth century. Their unique synergy along with the modern and artistic concepts led to their groundbreaking contributions to architecture, furniture design, industrial design, graphic design, fine art and film.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Charles Eames’younger days were spent working for a steel company where he developed an interest in engineering and architecture. He attended Washington University where he studied architecture, however was dismissed after two years for his “advocacy of Frank Lloyd Wright.” (Eames Office, 2012) He started his own architecture firm in 1930 in St. Louis, partnering with Charley Gray and Walter Pauley. In 1938 Charles moved with his first wife Catherine and daughter Lucia to Michigan and furthered his studies in architecture at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He eventually became the head of the design department of this Academy. In 1941 Charles and Catherine divorced and he remarried to Ray Kaiser, his colleague.
Ray Kaiser Eames was born in Sacramento, California. She studied abstract expressionist painting in New York at the Bennett Women’s College in Millbrook. In 1936 Ray founded the Abstract Artist Group where she paved the way for the first wave of American born abstract artists. Ray furthered her studies in 1940 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan where she assisted Charles in preparing designs for an Organic Furniture Competition at the Museum of Modern Arts. After marriage the abstract artistic talents of Ray flourished. She produced cover designs for the Arts and Architecture Magazine and created several textile designs, two of which were produced by Schiffer Prints. These textiles can be found in many art museum collections. The Eames’ settled in Los Angeles, California and began their outstanding partnership in design and architecture.
“Charles and Ray Eames designed just as they lived. Comfortably and inventively, they pushed forward with a zest for life that is apparent in their design”, (Inland Architect, Volume 117, p.34). Throughout the final forty years of their lives the collaboration of visionary design and the ingenuity of Charles and Ray led them to develop some of the most influential furniture of the twentieth century. “For the Eames’s, the design process would be successful only by identifying the overlapping needs of the client, society, and designer and developing products that would serve all three.” (Library of Congress, 2012). They explored creativity in film making, art, teaching, writing and perhaps their most innovative design, a house in Pacific Palisades where they not only created a modernistic aesthetic and functional living space, but also defined an organic, emotionally expressive approach to design and lifestyle.
Charles and Ray set themselves ahead early in their careers as they identified the need for the average consumer to own furniture that was affordable and high quality that could serve a variety of purposes and that had an elegant aesthetic. “Lean and modern. Playful and functional. Sleek, sophisticated, and beautifully simple. That was and is the Eames look.” (Herman Miller, 2012). The Eames’experimented for years and developed many furniture solutions in the form of collapsible sofas for the home and seating for stadiums, airports, schools and chairs for virtually anywhere. Inspiration for this furniture began during World War II where Charles and Ray were commissioned by the navy to produce moulded plywood splints, stretchers and experimental glider shells. These early designs led to the development of moulded plywood furniture, which in 1946 was produced by a company called Evans Products.
Evans Products was eventually taken over by Herman Miller Incorporated, a company which continues to produce Eames furniture to this day. Over a forty year period the Eames’ developed some of the most important examples of twentieth century chairs and furniture. They combined an elegant aesthetic with a love of materials and technical ingenuity. They used four materials in the development of their designs, moulded plywood; fibreglass reinforced plastic, bent and welded wire mesh, and cast aluminium. The concepts were specifically designed to comfortably support the human body using flexible materials and dimensionally shaped surfaces rather than cushioned upholstery. Some examples of the Eames’ furniture are the Moulded Plywood Dining Chair, the Metal Dining Chair with a Plywood Seat, the Eames Lounge Chair, the Aluminium Group Furniture and the Eames Chaise.
Whilst the list of buildings that Charles created is short, Charles and Ray considered everything the Eames Office did as an “extension of architecture.” (Eames Office, 2012). In the mid 1940’s, they designed and built the Eames House as a part of the Case Study House Program of the Arts and Architecture Magazine, a house considered being a landmark of the twentieth century. The Case Study consisted of twenty five houses that were to hypothesise a modern household, consider its functional requirements, use modern materials and processes in the architecture, and to be physically built. One of the purposes of the case study was to design a way to house various soldiers that were expected to flood America after World War II. The Eames’ made sure their house was constructed to suit themselves as the hypothetical clients.
Charles defines design as “a plan for arranging elements in such a way as to best accomplish a particular purpose”, (Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, 2001). This definition became apparent in the design of their house, which consisted entirely of pre fabricated steel parts, taking only days to construct, and was designed for a working couple who needed a studio space and living space. Charles and Ray approached the design of the house and its contents, as a concept of celebrating the beauty of everyday objects as well as the precious ones. It was considered the most successful as a modern advancement in architecture as well as a comfortable, functional living space. The contents of the house consisted of dried-out tumbleweed from their honeymoon, which hung alongside a Robert Motherwell painting. They laid out toys, masks and folkloric souvenirs from all over the world next to stones, buttons, bark and books. To this day the Eames House stands as an iconographic milestone of modern architecture.
The rampant career of Ray Eames came to an end in 1978 with work and design still enveloping the centre of his life. His work ethic and modernistic approach that he was scrutinised for in his early days, led to some of the most defining design and architecture breakthroughs that to this day still influence and ameliorate the lives and lifestyles of people all over the world. Ten years to the day after Charles’ death, Ray Eames was taken by cancer. She also left this world with some of the most influential designs and inspirations in textiles, film and fine art examples. “A design critic once said that this extraordinary couple just wanted to make the world a better place. That they did. They also made it a lot more interesting.” (Herman Miller, 2012)
Bibliography
Books
Kirkham, P, 1998, Charles and Ray Eames: Designers of the Twentieth Century, MIT Press, Massachusetts.
Websites
Charles and Ray Eames, revised March 2012, Wikipedia, viewed 26 February 2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_and_Ray_Eames
Charles and Ray, Eames Office, viewed 27 February 2012, < http://www.eamesoffice.com/charles-and-ray>
Design Philosophy, Eames Office, viewed 27 February 2012, < http://www.eamesoffice.com/design-philosophy>
Architecture, Eames Office, viewed 27 February 2012, < http://www.eamesoffice.com/architecture>
Furniture, Eames Office, viewed 27 February 2012, < http://www.eamesoffice.com/furniture>
Film, Eames Office, viewed 27 February 2012, < http://www.eamesoffice.com/film>
Charles and Ray Eames, Design Museum, viewed 29 February 2012, < http://designmuseum.org/design/charles-ray-eames>
Charles and Ray Eames, Herman Miller viewed 29 February 2012, < http://www.hermanmiller.com/designers/eames.html>
Charles and Ray Biography, Library of Congress, viewed 29 February 2012, < http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/eames/bio.html>
Magazine Article
Rotenberk, L, ‘Charles and Ray Eames: Pioneers in Design’, Inland Architect, vol. 117, issue 1, pp. 34-36.
Interview
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, 2001, ‘An Interview with Charles Eames’, What is Design? Extracted from the book, Eames Design.
